ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — A former Michigan Supreme Court justice pleaded guilty Tuesday to bank fraud, eight days after she quit the state’s highest court in a scandal involving a huge mortgage and property in Michigan and Florida.

Diane Hathaway, a Democrat, faces 1-1/2 years in prison under a deal with federal prosecutors.

She was accused of concealing assets while trying to persuade a bank that she needed a short sale to get rid of a Grosse Pointe Park home that carried a mortgage of more than $1 million. The bank fraud charge says Hathaway made false statements to ING Direct, transferred property to others and failed to disclose available cash — all in an effort to fool the bank into believing she had a severe financial hardship.

Hathaway and her husband, Michael Kingsley, transferred a debt-free Florida home to a relative before the 2011 sale of their Detroit-area home. But after the sale went through, the Florida property went back to them.

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In short sales, banks let distressed owners sell properties for less than what’s owed on them, providing a significant benefit to borrowers who often can’t afford to keep paying the mortgage. Hathaway and Kingsley, it was $600,000.

Hathaway’s real-estate transactions were first disclosed last spring by Detroit TV station WXYZ. She refused to speak publicly about them despite calls from critics to explain the suspicious property deals.

The U.S. attorney’s office signaled that a criminal probe was in progress when it filed a civil lawsuit in November to seize the Windermere, Fla., home as the fruit of bank fraud. The criminal case was filed Jan. 18. Kingsley was not charged.

Hathaway, a former Wayne County judge, shook up the Supreme Court when she defeated Republican Chief Justice Cliff Taylor in the 2008 election. Democrats then controlled the court for two years before GOP victories in the 2010 election put Republicans back in the majority.

Hathaway quit the court on Jan. 21, halfway through an eight-year term. Gov. Rick Snyder has yet to name her replacement, but the new justice will expand the Republican majority to 5-2, at least through 2014.